Known P38 - P1 Problems

hermiem

June 13, 2011 09:25

I've had my Walther P38 P1 for about 5 months now and have shot it about 6 times with a total of about 300 rounds. I shot it this past Friday (06/10/2011) and took it directly to the gunsmith after I was done. I fired commercial standard velocity 9mm auto and handloaded ammo loaded to standard velocity. The following 2 problems happened:

The complete extractor mechanism (Extractor, Extractor Plunger and Extractor Plunger Spring) popped out. (Of course I cound not find the parts at the range!)

AND

The Block Retainer Spring was turned sideways and deformed when the gunsmith field stripped it at his shop.

Other than the possiblility of the slide or aluminium frame cracking from too heavy of a load are there any other known "issues" that I can anticipate with this pistol? I've ordered a spare parts kit for it just in case something happens again from Numrich. Any civilized constructive comments would be appreciated. Thanks

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  rufe-snow

  June 13, 2011 13:03

  The early post war, West German, made P 1's/P 38's were made with a alloy frame, circa 1956/1971. The West German military had so much trouble with them that Walther brought out a revised model in the early 70's with a thicker strengthened alloy frame, reinforced with a steel hex bolt just above the trigger. Generally the slides on the West German military P1's/P 38's are dated. Because of the problems the West German military had with the early ones dating to the 50/60's time frame, it's best to avoid them.

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  hermiem

  June 15, 2011 05:53

  Thanks! I really appreciate your honest feedback!
  
  quote:Originally posted by rufe-snow
  The early post war, West German, made P 1's/P 38's were made with a alloy frame, circa 1956/1971. The West German military had so much trouble with them that Walther brought out a revised model in the early 70's with a thicker strengthened alloy frame, reinforced with a steel hex bolt just above the trigger. Generally the slides on the West German military P1's/P 38's are dated. Because of the problems the West German military had with the early ones dating to the 50/60's time frame, it's best to avoid them.

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  machine gun moran

  June 19, 2011 00:00

  The standard-dimension slides used on the post-war P38's would sometimes crack when used with NATO ball, which is a 124-grain bullet and loaded fairly hot. Walther pretty well solved this by making the slides .050" thicker, and the thicker slides can usually be recognized by the raised ridges on either side of the ejection port. These also generally have the 'long' slide serrations at the rear, as opposed to the shorter serrations of the standard P38 slides, and almost all are marked 'P1'. Should you crack a slide, which would probably never happen with commercial ammo, I believe that CDNN has new P1 slides for about $30.

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  hermiem

  June 20, 2011 13:59

  Thanks so much for your input and information! It gives me a little bit more of a piece of mind about my purchase.
  
  
  
  
  quote:Originally posted by machine gun moran
  The standard-dimension slides used on the post-war P38's would sometimes crack when used with NATO ball, which is a 124-grain bullet and loaded fairly hot. Walther pretty well solved this by making the slides .050" thicker, and the thicker slides can usually be recognized by the raised ridges on either side of the ejection port. These also generally have the 'long' slide serrations at the rear, as opposed to the shorter serrations of the standard P38 slides, and almost all are marked 'P1'. Should you crack a slide, which would probably never happen with commercial ammo, I believe that CDNN has new P1 slides for about $30.

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